A gripping story about a genius grappling with a turbulent new world.
A historical novel addresses the life of Galileo, a journey fleshed out here with all the intrigue and high stakes of a pivotal era.
Because Galileo’s life is so well known, a plot summary seems almost superfluous. Galileo (1564-1642), who lived in the duchy of Tuscany, is probably the most famous figure of the scientific revolution that gave the world Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Giordano Bruno, and other giants. Galileo is also notorious for recanting his belief in heliocentrism, so the climax of the book and his long house arrest are never in doubt (There is no evidence, by the way, that he ever muttered about Earth: “And yet it moves”). On the other side is the reviled Inquisition that threatens hellfire and, often, earthly fire, as Bruno’s fate attests. To further complicate things, this is the time of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and the papacy feels under pressure to be even more doctrinally rigid than the Protestant sects. None of this bodes well, and readers will see the train wreck coming that Galileo cannot, though he has his fears. This novel is part of the Mentoris Project, which focuses on eminent Italians and Italian Americans. Myers has a good sense of drama here even if his prose is sometimes over-the-top (“A nauseated-looking sun hung dejectedly in the meager daylight”). He gives a real sense of Galileo’s excitement and his understandable arrogance: Here is a genius beset not just by hidebound intellectual inferiors, but malicious ones at that. Galileo does try to keep his arrogance in check (stupid he is not), and the Roman Catholic Church is actually tolerant of the new cosmological ideas—as long as they are broached as hypotheticals. A painful part concerns the daughters whom Galileo consigns to a convent early on (a decision for which he never forgives himself). The devotion that his daughter Celeste shows him will break readers’ hearts. Readers will also find themselves wanting to know more about this celebrated figure and the world that he helped bring into being—the world that they live in today.
A gripping story about a genius grappling with a turbulent new world. (acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: June 4, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Barbera Foundation
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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